Top 10 Rose Bowl comebacks

1. 1963: Yup, it’s a comeback that wasn’t a complete comeback. Wisconsin trailed 42-14 at the start of the fourth quarter against USC, but quarterback Ron VanderKelen rallied the Badgers to put up 23 points after a series of scambling passes, turnovers and trick plays. Still, the Trojans hung on for a 42-37 win by recovering an onsides kick with a minute to play .

2. 2006: USC held its biggest lead of the game, 38-26, with 6:42 in the fourth quarter before Texas quarterback Vince Young brought the Longhorns back. Twice. First, a 17-yard touchdown run with 2:39 remaining closed the gap to five. After USC failed on a fourth-and-2 at the Texas 45, Young led another drive that culminated in an 8-yard touchdown run out of the shotgun to give Texas the one-point lead with 19 seconds left. Young’s two-point conversion made it 41-38. USC couldn’t get into field goal range to try to tie it as time expired.

3. 2005: Michigan had a 37-35 lead over Texas late in the fourth quarter and began celebrating until the Wolverines watched Longhorns quarterback Vince Young engineer a 10-play, 47-yard drive that set up a game-winning field goal as time expired for a 38-37 triumph.

4.1975: Pat Haden’s two-point conversion toss to Sheldon Diggs capped USC’s comeback for an 18-17 triumph in the final moments against Ohio State. On the Trojans’ final drive, reserve running back Alan Carter got a first down on a critical fourth-and-1 play at the Ohio State 40. On the next play, Haden hit J.K. McKay on the 38-yard touchdown pass with 2:03 remaining. Ohio State’s ensuing drive ended when Tom Skladany’s 62-yard field-goal attempt fell short.

5. 1980: USC trailed 16-10 with 5:31 left, but Charles White ran for 71 of the 83 yards on the final drive, capping it with a one-yard touchdown dive with 1:32 to play, giving the Trojans a 17-16 win over Ohio State.

6. 1997: After Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer appeared to give the Sun Devils some breathing room in the fourth quarter with just more than a minute remaining on an 11-yard TD scramble to make it 17-14, Ohio State came back behind eventual player of the game Joe Germaine. The Buckeyes quarterback, with the help of two pass interference penalties against ASU, got the ball to the Devils’ 5-yard line. Germaine found true freshman David Boston wide open for a touchdown with 19 seconds left. The PAT was blocked, but Plummer ran out of time on the final ASU drive.

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7. 1926: The Rose Bowl committee initially invited Tulane to come west to face Washington, but the school administration declined because it felt its players were too small to match up against the Huskies. Instead, Alabama came out and immediately trailed, 12-0, at halftime. Alabama put up three touchdowns in a seven minute span of the third quarter to come back. Halfback Johnny Mack Brown scored the last two TDs on receptions of 59- and 30-yards. The Tide held on for a 20-19 win.

8. 1971: Ohio State held a 17-13 lead over Stanford going into the fourth quarter, but Jim Plunkett, who completed 20 of 30 passing for 265 yards, put together two scoring drives to grab a 27-17 victory over the previously unbeaten Buckeyes. Plunkett’s 10-yard TD pass to Randy Vataha with 8:18 left sealed the deal for the so-called “Thunderchickens” defense. “If we had played them 10 times, they might have won nine,” said Plunkett, Stanford’s only Heisman Trophy winner.

9. 1949: Northwestern trailed undefeated Cal, 14-13, with three minutes to play and 88 yards to cover when halfback Frank Aschenbrenner, who had scored on a 73-yard run, made his only complete pass of the game, an 18-yarder. Two plays later, running back Ed Tunnicliff took a direct snap from center and scored on a 45-yard run to push the Purple ahead, 20-13.

10. 2012: Wisconsin grabbed a 38-35 win when quarterback Russell Wilson hit Nick Toon on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 4:44 left in the third quarter. But the Badgers, who had leads of 7-0, 14-7, 21-14 and 28-21 disappear, allowed the Ducks to score the last 10 points to come back and win it, 45-38. Darron Thomas hit Lavasier Tuinei with the 11-yard touchdown pass that put Oregon ahead to stay with 14:35 to play to secure it. The Ducks ended a seven-game losing streak at the Rose Bowl going back to 1917.